How did a book or story change your life?

Canada Reads 2014 is all about the power of novels to change our nation. To celebrate this theme, we asked you to tell us about a story or book that impacted your life. From tales on TV to cherished novels to family histories, you shared a huge variety! Thank your for submitting your inspiring stories of change.

Canada Reads is CBC's annual battle of the books. Five prominent Canadians duke it out to determine the book that all of Canada should read this year. This year, the panelists are on a quest to find the one novel that will change Canada. Check out the conversation at cbc.ca/canadareads.

Congratulations to our grand prize winner! This March, Helene Robb from Moncton, NB, will travel to Toronto to be part of the live Canada Reads audience!

Driving by the spires in nearby Sackville, I mused on life at Mt A, but didn't have the will or imagination to change my life as a wife and young mother. I then read Thomas Hardy's "Jude the Obscure". This book about a man who yearned for higher education and never achieved it, shocked me into action. I have never regretted the effort for my three degrees.